Twins Ferenc and Otto Klein were born in 1932 in Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary. The Klein family owned a lumberyard and a cement factory which were established in the 1800s.
In April 1944, their father was arrested and taken away. Two months later, when Hungarian state police rounded up all of the Jews in Hungary, except for those living in Budapest, the young boys were taken, with their mother and sister, Agnes, to Auschwitz. Their mother was killed in the gas chambers immediately upon arrival. Otto and Ferenc were selected for special experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele, who targeted twins for his medical experiments. Otto contracted tuberculosis at this time as well. Otto and Ferenc never discussed what they went through during this time under Mengele’s imprisonment. The boys were liberated in January 1945 by the Soviet Army. After liberation, they returned to Hungary to look for their parents or any surviving family. They discovered that their father had died shortly before liberation on a death march. They were reunited with their sister, Agnes, who had also survived Auschwitz.
In 1947, they were declared orphans by the State, and their uncle Adolph Schwartz was appointed their guardian. In 1948, Ferenc and Agnes immigrated to the United States, coming to El Paso, Texas to be with their relatives, the Schwartz family. Otto had to stay in Europe, as he was not able to secure a visa due to his tuberculosis. His family sent him to Switzerland to a sanatorium, where he was cured. Otto became a Swiss citizen and a successful businessman. He resided in Switzerland until his death in 2014.
Ferenc lived in El Paso until his death in 1986, which was the result of an unsuccessful kidney transplant.
Connecting Stories: Agnes Schaechner